Art & Places: Vittorio Emanuele II Monument, Venice, Italy

When I visited Venice, I saw this one huge monument and it says “I. MAGGIO MDCCCLXXXVII”. I can only read the last 6 Roman numbers (37) but not sure about the rest. So, I Google-d.

From my research on the Internet, in Roman numerals, MDCCCL means M=1000, D=500, C=100 (CCC = 100 x 3); L=50. It sums up to 1850. 1850 + 37 = 1887. So, the Roman letterings I.Maggio MDCCCLXXXVII means 1 May 1887. Must be a year of significant for Venice, or Italy in general.

So what happened in May 1887? And why does a monument bears the date?

Well, a lot of things happened in Italy in May 1887 and one that relates to the statue was an inauguration date. The monument above was inaugurated in May 1st, 1887. The monument was made to honour Vittorio Emmanuele II, the first king of a United Italy. It is located on the Riva degli Schiavoni waterfront in the Castello district of Venice (Venezia), Italy. There are several of them in other cities in Italy.

The bronze equestrian monument is 125 years old and was sculpted by Ettore Ferrari. Ferrari was born to an artistic family. He was a professor at the Accademia di San Luca, a deputy in the Italian Parliament and Grand Master of the Grande Oriente d’Italia. He sculpted many other statues around Italy.

Now, knowing a history behind a monument or statue, or better known as public art, is more significant. Although I could not gather the information during my visit to Venice, I am glad I took pictures and made the effort to find the history of this monument. Here are more pictures of the monument.